Systems and methods for controlling the transmission and reception of packets over a common antenna

• US 8,036,170 B1
• Filed: 12/09/2008
• Issued: 10/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Tran, Ninh, Li, Timothy
• Primary Examiner(s): Qureshi; Afsar M.
• Application Number:
  US12/330,927
• Time in Patent Office: 1,036 Days
• Field of Search: 370232-329, 370333-336, 370/345, 455/41.2, 455/63.3, 455/552.1, 455/509, 455/414.3, 455/450, 455/556.1, 725/98, 725/62, 725/74, 725/87, 707/E17.005, 710240-244, 375/260, 375/132, 375/135
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling the transmission and reception of WLAN and short range wireless packets over a common antenna. The system includes WLAN communication circuitry to generate data packets for wireless transmission via the antenna and to process data packets received via the antenna, and includes short range wireless communication circuitry to receive and transmit audio packets via the antenna. The system further includes an arbiter to control access of the WLAN communication circuitry and short range wireless communication circuitry to the antenna. The arbiter causes the data packets to be transmitted and received by the WLAN communication circuitry during time intervals during which no audio packets are transmitted or received by the short range wireless communication circuitry.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system, comprising:

an antenna;

wireless local area network (WLAN) communication circuitry to generate data packets for wireless transmission via the antenna, and to process data packets received via the antenna;

short range wireless communication circuitry to receive and transmit audio packets via the antenna, the audio packets being transmitted and received during time slots, the time slots being separated by time intervals during which no audio packets are transmitted or received by the short range wireless communication circuitry, the time intervals having a predefined length; and

an arbiter to control access of the WLAN communication circuitry and the short range wireless communication circuitry to the antenna, the arbiter causing the data packets to be transmitted and received by the WLAN communication circuitry during the time intervals during which no audio packets are transmitted or received by the short range wireless communication circuitry.

2. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the predefined length of the time intervals is calculated to maximize a throughput of the data packets and to maintain a predetermined throughput of the audio packets.

3. The wireless communication system of claim 1, further comprising:

front end connection and logic circuitry to respectively route data packets and audio packets from the antenna to the WLAN communication circuitry and the short range wireless communication circuitry.

4. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the audio packets are compliant with revision V1.2 of the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) Bluetooth™

standard.

5. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the WLAN communication circuitry is compliant with the one or more of the IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n standards.

6. The wireless communication circuitry of claim 1, wherein the WLAN communication circuitry and the short range wireless communication circuitry operate in a same frequency band.

7. The wireless communication circuitry of claim 1, wherein the audio packets are transmitted from the antenna having a 3-DH5 packet size.

8. The wireless communication circuitry of claim 1, wherein the audio packets are transmitted using a preselected number of back-to-back time slots.

9. The wireless communication circuitry of claim 8, wherein the preselected number of back-to-back time slots is selected to maximize the throughput of the data packets and to maintain the desired throughput of the audio packets.

10. A method of controlling access of wireless local area network (WLAN) communication circuitry and short range wireless communication circuitry to a single antenna, the method comprising:

permitting the short range wireless communication circuitry to access the single antenna and transmit or receive audio packets during time slots, the time slots being separated by time intervals during which no audio packets are transmitted or received by the short range wireless communication circuitry, the time intervals having a predefined length; and

permitting the WLAN communication circuitry to access the single antenna and transmit or receive data packets during the time intervals during which no audio packets are transmitted or received by the short range wireless communication circuitry.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the predefined length of the time intervals is calculated to maximize a throughput of the data packets and to maintain a predetermined throughput of the audio packets.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the audio packets are compliant with revision V1.2 of the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) Bluetooth™

standard.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the WLAN communication circuitry is compliant with the one or more of the IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n standards.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the WLAN communication circuitry and the short range wireless communication circuitry operate in the same frequency band.